Optus has released statements offering a free subscription to a credit monitoring service for victims of the hack, shortly after Cybersecurity minister Clare O’Neil called them out in parliament.

The federal government lashed Optus in parliament, saying a company of its size should have had better systems to protect itself and its customers from a significant data breach. 

Dr Katharine Kemp, Senior Lecturer from the Faculty of Law and Justice at the University of NSW told Mark Gibson on Perth Live that more support for the regulator needs to be provided.

“A lot of these practises are so opaque that they have gone unnoticed, and then, on the other hand, we know that our privacy regulator is really under-resourced,” she said.

“We need more funding definitely and more action for the privacy regulator,

“This is a key area where we have a clear rule that needs to be enforced.”

Cyber Security Minister Clare O’ Neal says almost 10 million customers have been compromised, and about 3 million of those have had a significant amount of data stolen.

Tap PLAY to hear what you need to know if you’re an Optus customer.